


The Tamer v3.0 - Bold New Frontier

by leonardo1123581321



Series: The Tamerverse [5]
Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Frontier, Digimon Tamers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Doctor Who Fusion, Gen, The Tamerverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:00:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29230380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leonardo1123581321/pseuds/leonardo1123581321
Summary: Zoe, JP, and Tommy are brought together by a mysterious phone call summoning them to a train station. From there, they embark on a train to a strange new world teeming with monsters and adventure. Their destiny is in their hands, and the fate of this world rests on their shoulders.
Series: The Tamerverse [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1205959
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	1. A Train to Nowhere

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome all to phase 3 of the story of the Digimon Tamer. Like a lot of you guessed, this will be set in the timeline of Digimon Frontier. And much like v2.0, v3.0 will try to distance itself from the events of the previous story. The main objective is give this story more of a stand alone feel when compared with v2.0. That's not to say the previous story will not have any bearing on this phase. It does. But only a handful of characters from the previous story will appear here - the focus here will be on telling the story of these characters. And there is one more thing to mention: the pandemic is still keeping me busy at work. I'm hoping that the vaccination roll out will start to help peter things out but I'm going to be realistic and stick to a three week update schedule until I can get back to work. I hope it can live up to the expectations of everyone who wants to read this next phase of the story.

Eight year old Takuya Kanbara walked down the quiet sidewalk after school let out, excited to get home and watch the latest episode of Super Ultra Hyper Force Go! He was excited just thinking about what new villain they would be fighting today and how they would win the power of good! If he was lucky, maybe he could watch the intro without his brother jumping in to sing the theme song while wearing a blanket as a cape.

"Takuya," a voice called in a low whisper.

Takuya looked over his shoulder, down the near empty sidewalk for the source of the voice. But there was no one there. Actually…now that he thought about it, why was no one there? Sure it was late in the afternoon now that school was out, but people should've been busy heading home from work. There should have been high schoolers doing gross kissing stuff or kids running to the park. But instead there was nobody. He didn't know how he'd missed it before…He was the only one on the street.

"Takuya."

Takuya spun around again towards the source of the voice and saw the street ahead of him was now equally empty.

"Takuya."

It was behind him again, and Takuya spun around one more time to see no one there. To anyone watching, he must've looked crazy spinning in place like this. And whoever was watching him was definitely trying to scare him. And it was working. He was definitely scared, not just of whoever was playing such a horrible prank on him but also on the fact that they'd somehow managed to do the one thing Takuya hated above all else. They managed to isolate him. And now Takuya was scared with no one to turn to for help.

"Takuya."

There was a roar behind him, and little Takuya turned around to see a bright light before him. There was a figure obscured by the light and it reached out a hand towards him, "Hello, Takuya."

Takuya felt a great fear over come him and he wanted to runaway in terror. But his feet remained firmly planted on the ground. And the figure came towards him. To anyone else, this sight would've prompted intervention and a call to the police. But no one saw this sight - not the light, nor the figure approaching little Takuya. All anyone saw was a backpack fall to the ground in the middle of a busy street in Tokyo.

**The Tamer v3.0 - Bold New Frontier**

Izumi Orimoto always felt like a fish out of water. After all, she was a naturally blonde haired Japanese girl who'd lived her entire life in Italy. And for some reason, despite everything that had happened, her family decided the best choice was to move back to Japan of all places because her mom got a new job at some big tech company which she ironically shared a name with: Izumi. However, she'd taken to using the nickname she'd acquired during her time in Italy: Zoe.

She had no actual problem with the nickname itself since it sounded exotic and that fit her to a T. But that also made it hard for her to get along with her peers in either Italy or Japan. After all, she was the foreign kid in her school in Italy and 'the rich kid who's traveled everywhere' in her family's native Japan. Not to mention, everyone thought she was 'too forward' and so people tended to shy away from her because it gave her a reputation as not understanding personal boundaries.

Despite her lack of friends, her mother had decided to give her a cell phone on her tenth birthday. Zoe immediately tried to return it but her mother said at the very least to keep it so that she could get a hold of anyone if she ever needed to. Something she didn't agree with because who was she going to get a hold of anyway? The friends she didn't have?

Even so, she kept the phone - if for no other reason than to appease her parents who became increasingly concerned for her safety even if there was no need to be. Something Zoe didn't worry about until her cell phone started beeping of its own accord one day. It took her by surprise, because she hadn't been expecting it but she found a text message waiting for her when she inspected it.

' _It's time to decide your future. Your destiny is calling. Take the 5:45 PM train to Shibuya from Jiyuugaoka on August 1st. Reply 'okay' to accept.'_

The number it came from was blocked. Naturally, she deleted the message and ignored it, but not even ten minutes pass before she got another message.

' _Take the 5:45 PM train to Shibuya from Jiyuugaoka on August 1st. Reply 'okay' to accept.'_

She deleted it again and this time made sure to set her phone to block all unknown numbers. She rested comfortably in the knowledge that she wouldn't receive this message from whoever again until her phone actually began ringing. That time, she jumped in surprise and saw her phone immediately decline the unknown number. Relief washed over her, and just as quickly went away as a notification appeared on the screen:

'1 Voicemail'

She hesitated at first, already having an idea of what to expect but listened to it anyway.

"Take the 5:45 PM train to Shibuya from Jiyuugaoka on August 1st. It's important that you reply yes to accept."

She gasped and turned off her phone immediately. Zoe had no idea who was playing this awful prank on her and she didn't care. At this point she just wanted them to stop.

She left her room to try and take her mind off it, heading towards the kitchen to get a drink of juice. She downed her first glass quickly and was about to pour herself another when the phone rang. She froze at the first ring. Was this a joke? A sick prank? How could they possibly know she was in the kitchen? No, how could they possibly know to call the house phone?

"Zoe! Why aren't you answering the phone?" her mother said as she entered from the living room and answered it, "Hello, Orimoto residence. Hmm? Oh, hello Rumiko! No, I've got a minute. What's wrong? He did what? Oh my! That's so precious, you'll have to tell me all about it!"

Zoe returned the juice to the refrigerator, shaking as she tried to make sense of what was happening. Her mother must've thought she was crazy for freaking out at nothing like that. But she wasn't crazy, right? Someone or something was trying to get a hold of her. And whoever they were, seemed just as determined to reach her as she was to ignore them.

Fine. If they wanted her attention that bad, she was going to give it to them. She made her way back to her room and turned the phone back on. She hesitated briefly before unblocking all unknown numbers and it beeped immediately. Another text message from the mystery sender.

' _Take the_ _5:45 PM_ _train to Shibuya on August 1st. Reply 'okay' to accept.'_

She hated how quick that was and began typing her reply.

' _Who is this?'_

She waited patiently for the response.

' _Your destiny. Take the 5:45 PM train to Shibuya from Jiyuugaoka on August 1st. Reply 'okay' to accept.'_

Her destiny? What kind of creep sends that as a response? She began typing her response, ' _What do you want?'_

' _Your help. Take the 5:45 PM train to Shibuya from Jiyuugaoka on August 1st. Reply_ _'_ _okay_ _'_ _to accept._ _'_

Her help? What? She'd had enough of this now and went back downstairs to her mom in the kitchen, still busy on the phone with her friend, "Mom!"

"Hold on," her mother covered the mouth piece of the phone and asked, "What's wrong, Zoe?"

"Some creep keeps texting me!" Zoe said, thrusting her phone into her mother's hands. Her mother took one look at the phone's screen and raised an eyebrow at her.

Her mother turned the phone back around, "All I see is you texting yourself, Zoe. That's your own phone number."

"What?" Zoe blinked as she looked back at the message on the screen in disbelief. She was right. Where it had once said a blocked number, the screen now said the messages were coming from her own phone. But that couldn't have been possible! "How? This wasn't…mom, I swear this said blocked number a minute ago!"

"Zoe, I don't know what this is about, but stop it," her mother scolded her, "I have work to get done and I don't need…whatever this is. We can talk about it tonight once I get caught up."

Her mother didn't believe her. Why would she? Fine…she was on her own and stormed out of the kitchen, looking at her phone and at the message. Without typing anything back, the mystery messenger typed back, _'That wasn't a very bright idea, Zoe. We need your help. Take the 5:45 PM train to Shibuya from Jiyuugaoka on August 1st. Reply_ _'_ _okay_ _'_ _to accept._ _'_

They knew her name. How did they know her name? What else did they know? Would they just be reaching out to her endlessly? The fear shook her as she slowly typed back her response, _'Okay.'_

* * *

August 1st came and Zoe had never felt more dread for a date. She arrived at the train station a few minutes before the appointed time and made her way towards the only train set to depart for Shibuya at the scheduled train. She'd also made sure to bring a backpack stuffed full of rocks just to be safe. It made the bag extra heavy but she felt the extra precaution made it worth it. After all, she had no idea what she was about to run into. All she knew was that she didn't trust whoever had sent out the mysterious summons for her.

The whole train ride, she shifted uncomfortably as she watched everyone else on the train with her. There were a lot of men in business suits but she tried not to focus on them. After all, it was quitting time for a lot of people who were getting off of work and they were probably more concerned with going out for drinks than they were with…an unaccompanied girl…

…crap…

She shouldn't have come here! This was definitely a bad idea! She'd heard stories about what happened to girls on train cars that were crowded like this! Well, she wasn't about to let herself become just another statistic. No, she had to get out of here as soon as possible. As the train slowly rolled into the station, she readied herself to run. But her phone beeped and she saw another message from the mystery person.

' _Take the first elevator on your left when you arrive at the station.'_

What the hell kind of message was that? No, she wasn't going to adhere to these mystery messages any more. This was a mistake. Just one big mistake. Once the train came to a stop, she hurried out the train with every intention of bolting for the nearest exit. That was her plan, but instead she got swept up in a massive crowd of people busy pushing her back and forth around the station.

Panic set in as she tried to push her way through the crowd and get out of it, heading towards any kind of opening she could. She was pushed around so much, she was just relieved to finally be out of the crowd. At least she was until she heard a beep and realized she was on an elevator. She gasped as the door closed shut in front of her and went for the door open button only to find a bare panel. No buttons to indicate floors, no button to open the doors, or an emergency call button to ask for assistance if the elevator jammed. Then it began descending downward. Was this the elevator she was supposed to be on?

As she took a step back, she took notice of someone else in the elevator with her - a boy wearing a blue jacket and a blue bandana on his head leering at her. Instinctively, she retreated to the other end of the elevator and asked, "Are you the one who's been calling and texting me?"

He stared at her, "I was about to ask the same question. After all, it was a girl calling me."

"You think I did this!?" Zoe blurted out.

He raised an eyebrow at her and crossed his arms, raising up a flip phone in his hands. He pressed a button and a voicemail began playing. A woman's voice repeating the same message she'd received so many times, "Take the 5:45 PM train to Shibuya from Jiyuugaoka on August 1st. It's important that you reply yes to accept."

"That doesn't sound anything like me!" Zoe protested at the boy who continued to stare at her. Before she could say anything else in response, the elevator stopped and the doors opened. He turned away and proceeded out of the elevator without another word. Zoe could only just stare in disbelief at the insult before she realized she had no other choice but to follow him out. It wasn't like she had any other options to get the elevator back out of here. She sighed and proceeded out of the elevator, into a large open chamber that resembled a massive train station filled with children. Then her phone beeped and a new text message appeared.

' _You've made it this far, Zoe Orimoto. Your fate is in your hands now. Choose a train and a new world awaits you.'_

"Whoever you are, you sure like being cryptic," she stated as she walked out into the crowd of children. Many of the tracks were empty or had trains that were already departing. She took one glance around and saw she didn't exactly have many choices left as kids began filing into separate cars. One small child in particularly large orange hat was being bullied by two older boys who shoved him into a car as he cried to be left alone.

They then hurried off to get into another train with a girl, laughing and poking fun at the boy they were harassing as their train started taking off. She couldn't believe what she'd just seen and walked towards the crying boy on the floor of one of the train car's as he sat there rubbing his eyes and whimpering.

She kneeled down and offered a hand to him, "Hey there. Are you okay?"

He sniffled as he pulled his hat down and pushed himself off the floor, quietly murmuring, "I'm fine."

Zoe frowned, wondering if he refused her hand to put on a brave face, or if he did it because he'd learned not to be trustful of others. In either case, she stepped back as he stood himself and hurried over to one of the nearby benches, sniffling and trying to wipe tears from his eyes. That was when she took note of the other boy on the train with her. A tall portly boy in a blue jumpsuit and hair spiked up to the top. He waved to her and winked, "Hey gorgeous."

"Ew," she revulsed at his attempted flirt. It wasn't so much his appearance that alarmed her as it was his greeting. Specifically, his attempt at being charming to someone he'd literally just met. And it seemed her response wasn't going to deter him, "So, you got the mystery message too? 'Come to the train at Chibuya Station!'"

She nodded, taking a seat on a bench away from him and replied, "Yeah."

He nodded, "Me too. I'm Junpei Shibayama but you can call me JP, cutie. So what can I call you?"

"Ew," she replied in disgust at the nick name. She contemplated using her bag of rocks on him but decided against that - she didn't want to start a fight.

It was made all the worse by the chocolate candy bar he retrieved from his pocket, one that appeared to be half eaten. He unfolded the part that has been bitten off and asked, "Want a bite?"

"No thanks," she threw up her hands defensively.

JP just shrugged and took a bite of it himself before turning to the boy with the oversized hat, "What about you, kid?"

The little boy fidgeted nervously and leaned away from JP. Obviously, she wasn't the only one weirded out and out off by his behavior. She turned towards the little boy and asked, "What about you? What's your name?"

"T-Tomoki...Tomoki Himi..." he stammered out quietly, still sniffling.

"Tomoki, hmm? Were those boys bullying you?" Zoe asked him. He didn't respond, keeping his gaze transfixed to the floor. That was a definite yes. Poor kid must've been enduring that for some time for him to be so closed off to people. She could only imagine how on guard he must've been. But if that was the case, why did he come here at all? Wouldn't he have turned down this invitation? Or perhaps he was forced to be here against his will? Whichever case, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor boy. She wanted to reach out and hug him, but she noticed he would scoot further away and bring up his arms defensively anytime either she or JP tried.

She sighed and said the only thing she could, "I'm sorry."

He gave no response, and seemed to be trying to ignore her.

* * *

The train continued for what felt like hours through darkness. She had no idea how far underground they were, but it must've been really deep for them to still not come out of whatever tunnel system they were in. All the while, so many questions ran through her mind: where were they going? Who summoned them? What were they going to do? And what did 'your destiny is in your hands' mean?

Their answer came when they finally saw light bleeding into the tunnel through the windows. Then the train came to a stop inside a dusty looking train station as they saw their first bit of light. As the train cars slowed, they felt a rumble in their pockets. Zoe's cell phone leapt out and floated in front of her - illuminating images of a purple butterfly. Tomoki's phone did the same and illuminated images of a white polar bear, while JP's showed images of a blue beetle.

He moaned, "Aw man, why does Tommy get the bear?"

"My name's not Tommy," Tomoki protested sheepishly as the light died down and the train finally rolled to a stop.

"Looks like it's the end of the line. Come on! Let's go see where we ended up!" JP said as he hopped out of his chair and led the way towards the door. Tomoki followed along just behind, rubbing his arm nervously as he followed just behind JP. Zoe followed just after them, heading towards the door when she noticed a soft glow of red light coming from the front of the train. It drew her attention, leaving her to wonder if someone else had been on the train with them when she hurried out after them.

"You coming?" JP called out to her.

"Y-yeah," Zoe nodded as she hurried out after them, keeping her attention towards the front of the train. In the car just ahead of theirs, a boy stepped out wearing a yellow shirt under a red short sleeved jacket, with brown khaki shorts, and a reversed brown baseball cap with a pair of goggles wrapped around them. He was kind of lanky for his height, almost scrawny, as he cracked a tired yawn and took a look around.

Then the new boy noticed them, "Oh, hello. I don't suppose you three happen to know what's going on?"

"Not a clue," JP answered cheerfully, "Looks like we're all on the same boat! So, you got a phone call, too?"

"Phone call? I was napping until a few seconds ago," the boy answered, "What's this about a phone? Also...where are we? I swear we were in Chibuya station when I fell asleep. How long was I out for?"

"You…you're joking, right?" JP asked.

The boy just shrugged, "Oh, were we making jokes? Okay! I got one. What do you get when you cross a-"

"You're clueless!" JP face palmed.

"No more clueless than you," the boy replied.

Now, JP was annoyed and he grit his teeth, "Okay, since you know so much, what's going on? Where are we?"

"Hmm? Based on a first glance, we're in some part of the Digital World I've never been to," the boy replied, looking around with a confused gaze. What? Digital World? What the hell was the Digital World? Was this kid crazy? He had to be. He said he'd been sleeping on the train until a minute ago. Actually, there was something else off about him. He seemed…uneasy. Like his mind was somewhere else that it didn't want to be.

"Well, when it doubt, ask the driver," the boy said, walking towards the front of the train without a secondary look back, "Hey! Hey Locomon! Where are we!?"

Locomon? Who's Locomon? Did he know the driver? Maybe he could persuade the driver to send them back! Then they could get this nightmare over with.

"LOCOMON!" the boy called out even louder.

A loud mechanical voice that sounded like grinding metal grunted back, "WHAT!?"

"Where are we?" the boy asked as they reached the front of the train. She looked at the engine at the front and was alarmed to see no windows or even a place for a driver to sit. In fact…it looked like there wasn't even a way in. So who was driving the train? Actually, now that she paid attention, was the front light staring at her. Then it blinked and Zoe jumped back, "AH! WHAT!?"

"Stupid humans, always screaming about nothing. Look, what d'ya want!?" the train spoke to them.

"Where are we?" the boy asked.

"Flame Terminal in Fire Village," the train grumbled at them, "Now if you don't mind, I've got a schedule to keep and more stops to make! Bye."

"Okay, thank you! Be safe!" the boy waved as the train started to pull ahead. Zoe was so shocked by the fact that the train of all things was alive that it didn't occur to her that it was leaving until it was almost out of the station. She bolted after it, "Hey! Wait! Take us with you!"

"Sorry, no time to stop! If I do, I'll be put behind schedule! The next train is in thirty years, good luck until then!" the train replied as it continued on into the distance, slowly gaining speed until she was no longer able to keep up with it. That was when she noticed the tracks turned down at a ninety degree angle which should've been impossible. But that didn't stop the train from continuing downwards at a and disappearing down a canyon into darkness, until only the glimmer of its lights were visible. And even those eventually disappeared into darkness.

Zoe slid to a stop at the end of the platform, gasping for breath and looking back to see no one else had given chase. However, she could see Tomoki was crying and JP was furious with the boy, "WHY WOULD YOU JUST LET IT LEAVE!? HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GO BACK!?"

"Walk backwards?" The boy suggested, "Why are you so upset? This isn't the end of the world."

"Why am I!? Why aren't you freaking out?" JP said, "Why are you being so calm about this?"

The boy just stared at JP before a thought occurred to him, "I take it you guys wanted to go back?"

"Yes," he and Tomoki said in unison.

Takuya looked like he'd just realized something obvious, "I see. Well, don't worry. I know a few tricks to help you with that. Where do you want to go?"

"Where do I...are you just stupid?" JP asked, "We want to go home! Tokyo! Japan!"

"Not the worst thing I've been called," the boy remarked as he held out the device that had appeared in all of their hands, "Never mind! We'll figure that part out later. Digiport open!"

He stood there, arm out as if he expected something to happen before he tried it again, "Digiport Open!"

Still nothing.

"Well, this is embarrassing," he said quietly, shaking the device in his hands as if he expected that to solve whatever problem he thought was happening. JP turned to Zoe and gave an expression of disbelief that Zoe shared as the boy tried once again to open whatever a digiport was. As Zoe made her way back to them, she couldn't help but think the same thing to herself. Who was this kid and what was his deal? Why was he so calm about all of this and what did he seem to know that the others didn't?

"Who even are you?" JP finally asked him. The boy stopped waving the device randomly and stared, "Who…um…actually, that's the good question. What is my name? Tak…Tak…um….yeah…Oh! Takuya! Takuya Kanbara!"

"Uh huh, and what's your actual name?" JP asked.

"Yeah, if you're going to lie, the least you can do is not be so obvious about it," Zoe added as she finally rejoined them.

Takuya scratched his head as he gave it some thought, "I think that's my name. At least, I'm pretty sure it is. It's the first name that came to my head…at least, I think it is…head's still fuzzy. I think I might still be waking up."

"Oh, is that it? You're just waking up," JP rolled his eyes.

"Okay…so what do we do next?" Zoe asked Takuya.

He blinked, "Sorry, are you asking me?"

"Yeah! We're all stuck in this together! We need to get back home!" JP said.

Takuya just stared at them in disbelief, "Um…I am home?"

"I can't take it any more! I want to go home! I WANNA GO HOME!" Tomoki broke out in tears. Before anyone could stop him, he leapt on to the tracks and started running after the train that had left, "I didn't even want to be here! I want to go home! I wanna go home!"

"Tommy! Wait!" Zoe called after the boy as he ran past.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT! THAT'S NOT MY NAME!" Tomoki wailed. She tried to grab him but he was surprisingly quick for his small size. That and the bag of rocks and went helping. She really needed to empty her bag.

JP however, was too busy staring in surprise. Only Takuya had the sense to jump onto the tracks and go after the little boy. Which was just as well -

Either Tomoki was too blinded by his tears, or was too upset, to notice the fact that train tracks ran right off a cliff and disappeared straight down. Just as Tomoki was about to stumble over the edge, Takuya grabbed him and pulled him back, "Hey! Hey! Hey! Calm down! It's okay, calm down! It's okay…just…listen to me…everything will be fine…"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW!? YOU'RE CRAZY! WHY SHOULD I LISTEN TO YOU!?" Tomoki continued to cry, struggling against Takuya's hold.

To her surprise, Takuya was able to take a lot of hits and kicks from little Tomoki without flinching. Still, Takuya just held the boy in a somewhat hug until eventually the little boy calmed down enough to realize he wasn't going to break free of Takuya's hold and asked, "Why…why are you…helping me?"

Takuya just stared down, "Because you needed help. Isn't that enough?"

Tomoki just stared up at him, a skeptical look trying to understand what Takuya was thinking. That's what they were all thinking to be honest. It seemed everyone was trying to figure out what was going on with this weird kid who didn't seem to operate on the same kind of logic that the others did. Then Takuya went on, "Tell me, what's your name?"

"T-Tomoki," he responded.

"Tomoki. Listen to me. I promise I will do everything I can to get you home," he answered, "No matter how long it takes."

Tomoki stared at him disbelievingly but then shook his head, "And the reason I should trust you?"

Takuya let him go, "It's the same reason I'm trusting you to not go running off a cliff. Now then…if we're in Flame Terminal…then we must be on…the Continent of Server? Directory? Folder…eh, it's a continent. Let's head into town and see if we can't hitch a ride."

"Hang on! Who put you in charge?" Zoe protested.

Takuya looked back at her and shrugged, "No one? People just have a weird habit of following me, even though it's usually a very bad idea. Come along, Tomoki."

Takuya leapt back on to the platform and helped pulled Tomoki back up. Together, the two of them made their way towards the exit and out into the town.

"Man, can you believe this kid?" JP protested bitterly.

Zoe had to agree with JP's exasperation, "Gotta admit, he seems shifty. But do we have any better ideas? That train said the next one comes in thirty years. And this guy seems to know what's going on. That's more than we can say for ourselves. If we want to go home, following him might be the best idea."

"Hmph. I think we should keep an eye on him, though. This whole thing just puts me off," JP pointed out. Zoe nodded in agreement and the two followed after them.

* * *

If the station took them by surprise, the surrounding village and its villagers left them floored. It was a mix of steel and stone structures modeled like domes and large blocks - and the occupants were all manner of creatures, some more humanoid than others. Others looked like overgrown animals, while others resembled cartoon drawings that came to life. But others were outright alien in appearance - there was one creature where Zoe was unsure of where the head ended and where the body began. Zoe, Tomoki, and JP stuck close together as every creature they passed gaped at them. And some weren't as quiet as others about it.

"It's humans."

"What are humans doing here?"

"I heard some were seen not that long ago. Do you think it's the same humans?"

"Nah, I heard the first one had black hair."

"That one's got goggles. You don't think that's the one, do you?"

"Probably not."

JP scratched the back of his head and sighed, "Great…the first time I get public attention and its for being weird."

"Do you think they're going to eat us?" Tomoki whimpered.

"No way. They don't look like they just outright attack people," Zoe pointed out, "They're just staring."

"Oh come on. This is a village! No one goes around just attacking people in villages. Well...criminals do but criminals also try not to do it in broad daylight!" Takuya said in what must've been his attempt at assuring them.

Only Takuya was completely unfazed by all the creatures, and he calmly made his way up to the biggest and most terrifying one present. It was some kind of gray fuzzy creature with rabbit like ears and razor sharp claws. Takuya waved to get its attention, "Hey! Excuse me! Gazimon! You wouldn't happen to be the one in charge here, are you?"

"Yes, I am. What d'ya want?" the creature called Gazimon asked.

"Well, we're kinda lost. Where are we and how do we get to the Hallowed Bastion?" Takuya asked.

Gazimon answered by spitting in his face, "Go to hell."

Takuya wiped the spit off his face, "Well, that wasn't how I expected that to go."

Zoe proceeded to get a handkerchief from her pocket and offered it to him, "Got any other bright ideas?"

Takuya took it and wiped it off his face, "Yeah, find a place to wash my face."

BOOM!

An explosion in the distance, had all of them turn around to face a screaming throng of creatures running towards them. The panic spread their way as voices cried out.

"RUN AWAY! CERBERUMON IS COMING!"

"WHY IS CERBERUMON HERE!?"

"DOESN'T MATTER! JUST RUN!"

"Uh, guys. I think that maybe we should run," JP reasoned as he looked off towards the rising smoke and the billowing ash rising skyward.

Zoe was inclined to agree but as they turned to join the crowd of fleeing creatures, a blast of fire descended from the sky and slaughtered them. Their screams lasted mere seconds before it was drowned out by the roar of the flame and their bodies decayed to soot. Zoe fell backwards in shock - both at how quickly those creatures perished and how close they had been to death. If they had run just a second sooner, they would be the ones burning in that moment.

Then she heard a roar and looked up to see black dog leaping over them, landing in front of the go was. It turned to face them, revealing two pauldrons on its shoulders designed to look like dog heads. It roared, "Humans! I am Cerberumon! Now, you will take me to the Spirit!"

"Um...no?" Takuya replied.


	2. Who Leaves Fire Lying Around?

Zoe leapt back in surprise, trying to process what she was looking at. There was a three headed dog thing in front of them, spitting fire, and screaming about finding something that he seemed to expect they would know where to find. They needed to calm it down but how exactly do you calm down a dog that had just blown apart a section of the village? They had to run. She wanted to run. But her legs were frozen to the ground and refused to move.

And of course Takuya of all people was either completely ignorant of the situation or was too busy trying to be funny to notice the serious danger they were in. He simply walked up to the dog, "If you're trying to ask for our help, this isn't a very polite way to do it."

The dog just snarled back at them, prompting Takuya to sigh, "I see you get invited to many birthday parties."

The dog growled, "I only need one of you. DIE!"

It lunged at Takuya with its mouth open, baring its fangs and sending spit everywhere. Takuya didn't realize the danger he was in as his attention was now on an unattended market stall.

"Ooh, what's that!?" Takuya ran towards one of the stalls at the same time Cerberumon was about to collide with him - narrowly avoiding being mauled. Takuya picked up a strange green fruit left on display and gave it a nice strong whiff, "Awesome! I was starving! Hey, Tomm…uh…Tomoki! Do you want some? I think they're apples…could be pears? It's definitely edible!"

Zoe was stunned. Was he not taking the danger seriously? Was it all just a joke to him? The fact that Tomoki had started sniffling and whimpering again wasn't helping. Of course, none of this stopped Takuya from passing out the strange fruit to them, "Here you guys go! You're probably hungry too! I haven't eaten anything since I woke up!"

He thrust the fruit into her hand before she could reject it, then proceeded to eat the fruit he kept on in his hand. Which he promptly spit out while retching, "Blech! It's not ripe yet! Who sells fruit before it's ripe?"

By now, Cerberumon was rounding on Takuya again and he was angrier now, "You're mocking me. You're mocking me and you're going to die now."

He lunged again with his mouth open, just as Takuya threw the unripened fruit away. And it went right into his mouth, disappearing into his throat as the dog started choking and gagging. Takuya dusted his hands off before looking back at the dog, "What's with him?"

Zoe was floored. He couldn't be that stupid. No one was that stupid. He had to be faking it. Like he was faking his own name. He had to be doing all of this on purpose.

Takuya walked back over to the dog - the same dog whom he'd accosted and asked, "Hey, you okay?"

The dog squirmed and writhed before finally coughing up the half eaten fruit that it was choking on. It gasped for breath, tears running down its eyes as the first fresh breaths of air finally made their way in. Takuya just pet its head, "See, this is why you should always chew your food before you swallow."

"I'm going to start killing you now. I'm not sure if or when I'll stop," the dog replied, baring his teeth before charging at Takuya and lunging forward. His teeth sank into Takuya's arms and he dragged the boy behind him - crashing straight into a building and disappearing.

"Well…he's dead," JP remarked, "Like we will be if we keep standing around out here! Let's go!"

"Wait! What about Takuya!?" Tomoki asked, his voice about to crack like he was going to start crying.

"The dog dragged him off to do who knows what to him! We'll be lucky if the same thing doesn't happen to us! Now let's get out of here!" JP said, grabbing both Zoe and Tomoki by the collar and spinning them around to run. Once she was facing the other way, Zoe's legs rediscovered their ability to move and they hurried off down the street in the direction the crowds had run earlier. They'd barely made it down the block before something grabbed them and pulled them into one of the buildings, covering their mouths to keep them from screaming. Of course, all that did was stifle Tomoki's panicked screams to a low cry.

"Keep it down! Do you want him to find us?" a voice asked.

"Like hide and seek?" another said.

"Calm down! All three of you! Seriously, stop! We're going to let you go if you promise not to scream or do anything to bring that big scary digimon here!" the first voice said. Zoe finally stopped struggling long enough to notice their captors - a white...thing wearing a pink waist band and yellow rabbit wearing red pants. To be honest, this should've been the least surprising thing to happen to them today but Zoe was still stunned in surprise. The white thing did something of a bow as it introduced itself, "I am Bokomon. And this is my counterpart Neemon. Who are you, humans?"

"I'm...Zoe," she introduced herself.

"JP."

"T-Tomoki."

Bokomon nodded and waved "It's a pleasure to meet you. Now what are you doing here?"

"More importantly, do you think my finger smells weird?" Neemon asked, plucking his finger out of his belly button. Zoe stuck her tongue out in disgust, "Gross."

"Stop that, Neemon. You'll scare them!" Bokomon slapped the rabbit's hand away.

Neemon's tilted his head to the side, "Because I'm the one scaring them right now."

"That's not the point!" Bokomon corrected angrily, turning to the children, "I apologize about him. He's a bit slow. But seriously now, what are you humans doing here? Humans haven't been seen in the Digital World in such a long time."

"Honestly? We all just got these crazy calls and messages telling us to get on a train. Next thing we know, we're here and there's a crazy dog blowing things up," JP explained at a whisper, peeking back out the door nervously.

"That's Cerberumon. He's looking for the missing Human Spirit of Fire or something like that. He's never come here before, though. And it can't be a coincidence that you showed up around the same time he did!" Bokomon reasoned.

Zoe threw up her hands defensively, "Hey! We're not with that guy if that's what you're asking us!"

"Not at all! What I mean is that we of the Digital World learned a long time ago not to make light of any coincidence. No matter how unlikely. It's entirely possible that you were meant to be here," Bokomon reasoned. Zoe just blinked and stared at that explanation. What the hell was he going on about destiny and coincidence for? Wait, was he the one who sent the message?

Neemon slapped Bokomon across the back of the head, "Ignore him. He gets like that and no one knows what he's talking about. Anyway, are you guys thirsty? I think I have juice boxes in my pants!"

"Neemon! I'm talking about the fate of our world!" Bokomon grumbled, tending the spot on the back of his head.

"Fate of your world? Destiny? We don't want anything to do with that! We're just trying to get home," JP explained.

Bokomon frowned, scratching his chin, "Hmmm…If anything would know what to do, I suppose it would be the Book of Legends. Let me see if I can find it."

He retreated further into their home, towards a book case lined with many thick and ancient volumes of literature that looked on the verge of falling apart. As Bokomon traced the books, he stopped on a large one with a faded green cover written in a language Zoe had never seen before. Bokomon made a show of wiping the book cleans and blowing a fine layer of dust off it. He set the book down and it landed with a considerable thud on the floor.

The pages were just as old and ancient as the cover, faded to a dusty brown from a lifetime of being used for work. As Bokomon flipped through the pages, she noticed horrifying images scrawled on some of the pages - depictions of massive battles between angels and demons, a vampire slaughtering children, a puppet turning controlling people through string, a monkey playing a guitar whose melody made ears bleed, a clown skewering people with swords, and an image of a red blob consuming all it came across. Then Bokomon stopped on a page opposite a picture of ten warriors surrounding an angel as the angel tumbled down into a pit. Bokomon frowned, "Ah-ha! Oh...well I found a section on the spirit, but nothing yet on children suddenly appearing in our world by train. Let me keep looking."

"What's the story of the spirit, anyway? Why is Cerberumon looking for it?" Zoe asked.

"Who cares? I just want to go home!" Tomoki cried.

"I was just thinking maybe there's a clue as to why we're here in that legend or whatever. At the very least, it'll help to pass the time," Zoe thought aloud.

Bokomon rotated the book to face them and pointed at the image of the ten warriors, "The spirit is said to be the remains of one of ten legendary warriors from a time forgotten. According to this tome, the ten warriors worked together to face a great evil - trapping it and burying it in the heart of the world so that it could never escape."

"And what happens if Cerberumon gets this spirit?" Zoe asked.

"He will inherit the power of the ancient warrior it belonged to. And if we know anything about how he acts, nothing good can come of it," Bokomon warned.

"This all sounds kinda hokey," JP countered, "Ancient power? Sealed evil in the center of the world? Can we skip to the part about going home?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. Let me get back to looking," Bokomon said as he continued to turn the pages. As he continued searching, Zoe noticed Tomoki whimpering quietly and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Hey Tomm-Tomoki! It'll be alright! We'll get home in one piece! No problem!"

"That's what Takuya said before the dog ate him!" he whimpered. He was right...they were in a lot of danger here in this world. And if they did get back to their world, they had to be sure to tell Takuya's parents about what happened to him. Well, first they needed to figure out what his real name was. Or if he even had parents.

* * *

Cerberumon was shocked at how quickly the human named Takuya had turned the situation around. At some point, between when it took a bite of his arm and when it ran off, the boy ended up on his back and was riding him with his arms in the air, "WHEE!"

"GET OFF ME!"

"But I've never had so much fun!" the boy replied.

Cerberumon growled, "How are you even holding on with that mangled arm!?"

The boy petted his head as he answered, "You got me in the first twenty-four hours of the reformatting cycle. You could tear my arm off all day and it'll just grow back! Like a worm...but not as disgusting."

"Twenty four hours? What…what are you? Some kind of digimon?" Cerberumon growled.

"Pfft, I wish. I've always wanted to try digivolving. My best friend had all the fun…what was his name?" Takuya remarked, "Sorry, my head is still a little foggy."

"I'm going to enjoy killing you," Cerberumon growled, turning on his side to try and ram his back against the wall of a nearby building. The boy's attitude would certainly improve if he were smeared against the side of the building like the bug that he was.

With a great roar, Cerberumon leapt onto his side and rammed his back against the wall. The boy's weight vanished and Cerberumon was sure the boy was no longer holding on. The dog took a moment to steady himself, relieved to know the human was finally gone off his back and smiling gleefully at the thought of finally shutting him up. Until it occurred to him that he needed the human alive! The humans were the only one who could find the spirits he needed! And he'd just killed one of them!

"That was fun! Let's do it again!" the boy's voice said with far too much cheer.

No. That shouldn't have been possible. Cerberumon turned around and saw the boy dusting himself off, "Next time, maybe we can do it without my suit getting dirty. That was a mess."

Cerberumon staggered for a moment, barely able to comprehend what he was looking at. The boy was alive and fine. At least, at first glance. On closer inspection, Cerberumon noticed the boy was missing a hand from the arm down. But the boy didn't appear to be in pain or bothered by it. In fact, he seemed gleeful as the arm began to grow back in a flash of light.

Cereberumon's mouth fell open in surprise, "What…what are you!? WHAT ARE YOU!?"

"Ancient," the boy remarked with a gleeful smile, "Now, I believe you were giving me a ride?"

The anger came back. He didn't care about the spirit now. He had four other humans for that. Now, just wanted to destroy whatever this abomination was in front of him. Cerberumon roared as he charged in with his mouth open, "DIE!"

"You need to get some new lines," Takuya said as Cerberumon tore into him.

* * *

They weren't sure how much time passed in silence as Bokomon continued flipping through the pages of his book, in search of a way back to their world. Eventually, the silence grew too much for JP to bare and he asked, "Hey, Bokomon. Do all your names end with mon?"

"Yes. We are all digimon of course," Bokomon replied.

"We keep hearing that word. What _is_ a digimon?" Zoe asked, equal parts intrigued about the word and annoyed that no one had bothered to tell them what it meant.

"We _are_. It's short for Digital Monster!" Bokomon said as he continued flipping through the pages, "But you know all about that."

"No…no, we don't," Zoe answered.

Bokomon stopped flipping through the pages, looking up at them in surprise, "How can you not know what digimon are when you're here in our world!?"

JP threw up his hands, "We just said we just told you! We got texts on our phones to get on a train, and next thing we know, we're here. We have no idea what's going on!"

"Keep it down!" Neemon said, "He'll hear us and we'll be in trouble!"

As if Neemon's words challenged the universe, a wall came crashing down from Cerberumon charging through. Everyone screamed and coughed as dust filled the air. Zoe instinctively push Tomoki down to the floor and she threw herself on top of him to shield the boy from falling debris. Cerberumon didn't even seem to notice them as he continue on without them. And he had what looked like Takuya in his mouth.

"Takuya!" Tomoki gasped in surprise

"Was that your friend?" Neemon asked.

"Oh dear. It looks like they're running back to the train station," Bokomon added nervously, gesturing after the dog.

"The station? If Takuya's alive, then we'd better go help him," Zoe said as she rose from the ground.

"Are you kidding? Forget that! What are we going to do against that thing besides get ourselves killed?Besides, Takuya was the one antagonizing the stupid dog!" JP protested.

"Yeah and Takuya is the only one who seems to know what's going on! If anyone is going to get us out of here, it will be him!" Zoe countered.

JP opened his mouth to argue but paused, "You…you may have a point. Okay, so how do we help him?"

Zoe put a hand to her chin, mulling over what she'd heard, "Hm…that guardian spirit thing you were talking about…Where would that be?"

"Hang on. Please tell me you're not going to get involved in whatever that crap is!" JP protested.

"No…but if that spirit thing can help us, I don't see any reason why we couldn't just use it!" Zoe reasoned, turning back to Bokomon, "Where would we have to look?"

"No one knows. Cerberumon's been looking for months and he's never once come close to finding it," Bokomon said. That wasn't good news. For them or for Takuya. But that didn't mean they could just give up. And she didn't like the idea of just sitting around while Takuya was getting mauled by that dog thing. It wasn't like hiding here in this ruined building would do them any good anyway.

She poked her head out of the wall to make sure Cerberumon was gone and saw a hole in the wall across the street were Cerberumon had gone charging through. And beyond that, she could the other side of the building and a gaping wall in the next building - continuing on in an endless tunnel through the various edifices in its way.

"Well…we better start looking," Zoe said, "Let's back track to the station and go from there."

"Are you crazy!?" Tomoki whimpered, "You want to follow the giant killer dog!?"

"No, not that. Well, kinda? I was thinking if we stay behind it all the time, we can be sure we don't end up in front it," Zoe reasoned.

JP sighed and scratched the back of his head, "I get what you're saying and I hate it. But it's not like hiding here will do us any good. The guys can break down walls apparently."

"If it gets that dog thing out of our town, I'll come with you!" Neemon said.

"I'll come as well," Bokomon said, tucking the book under his arm, "If nothing else, the book is heavy enough to hurt anyone I hit with it!"

"I don't like this," Tomoki said, pushing his fingers together.

Zoe patted his shoulder, "Don't worry. We'll be right next to you the entire time. Let's go."

* * *

Cerberumon roared as he continued dragging the boy across the town. But it didn't matter how much he smeared the boy against the walls or how much he mauled him. The child just regrew the parts of his body that were damaged. The boy said it was because he was in the first twenty-four hours of his…whatever. That didn't matter to him. He just needed to keep ripping him apart until the twenty-four hours were up. It was just a battle of attrition at this point.

At least until a new idea occurred to him in a moment of genius. Why bother ripping him apart? He could just toss him down a portal into the dark realm and let that be the end of him. Let's see how long his regenerative powers would last him against the endless destruction of the dark realm!

"Portals of Darkness!" Cerberumon roared to conjure a portal wreathed in black fire on the floor of the train station - revealing the blackened void of the dark zone where no light could shine. The boy's head perked up at the sight of it and he remarked, "Ooh! What's that? That looks like fun!"

"Let's see how much fun you think it is after you spend eternity in darkness!" Cerberumon roared at the top his lungs, whipping his head to throw the boy straight down into hole.

"HERE WE GO!" the boy cried out enthusiastically as he fell into the hole with his arms out excitedly. Cerberumon could only growl in anger. At least the boy wasn't his problem any more. He prepared to close the portal when he noticed a small glimmer of red light on the other side of the portal. That couldn't be right. That was the realm of darkness!

No light could shine down there! Nothing could permeate the dark miasma! And yet there it was! Was it the boy? Perhaps making one last mocking gesture? Or was it…it couldn't be. The spirit was supposed to be in this town, not in the realm of darkness.

But the realm of darkness was transient. It was everywhere. Was it possible that this is what he was missing? The guardian spirit was hidden in the town within the realm of darkness. If that were the case, he couldn't let the boy get to it first. He leapt in after the boy, bringing legs close to his body so that he could descend faster.

Yet the boy turned in the air to face him, striking a relaxed pose as he fell, "Hey! This was fun! Thanks for throwing me in here! Did you want to jump in, too?

"DO YOU EVER SHUT UP!?" Cerberumon roared.

"Why would I want to shut up? There's just so much to say! It's not my fault no one wants to listen. Or if they get angry," he answered.

Cerberumon was going to enjoy obliterating him once he had the Guardian spirit. Yet, it seemed the further Cerberumon descended, the further the red light went from him. As if it was repulsed by him and trying to felled. The harder he tried to reach it, the further away it was. And after some time, he felt the burning sensation - and Cerberumon realized his body was alight with fire. He screamed in terror, "MY BODY! IT BURNS! WHAT IS THIS?"

Cerberumon tried to pull away from the light and escape, but attempting to flee only seemed to make the fire burn hotter until Cerberumon could only scream in pain. Yet the boy was unharmed. In fact, the boy was now holding the red light in his hands, "Hmmm…what's this? Spirit of Fire…I know that name…why do I know that name?"

No, it shouldn't be possible. Was he communing with the Guardian spirit? But it should've been long dead! There should be no way for it to commune back with him. Yet here it was talking to him. And the boy turned his head and nodded as if listening intently to a conversation only he was privy to. Then the boy gave one last nod, "I understand. Then I accept."

He raised the light over his head and cried out, "Execute! Spirit Evolution!"

The light shone brighter and fire erupted from the boy - blasting Cerberumon away and back out of the portal of darkness to the Digital World. It wasn't possible. The boy…the thing had the Guardian Spirit. He needed to stop it now! Before the boy learned to use its awesome power against him.

* * *

Zoe, Tomoki, and JP made their way back to the train station, following the trail of destruction and fire left in the wake of the rampage of the dog digimon. Until suddenly the sound of destruction fell silent. Some of the digimon began poking their heads back out of their homes, wondering aloud if Cerberumon was gone and if it was safe to come back outside.

But Zoe was nervous. She was worried the silence might mean it was too late to save Takuya. If that was the case, they really were screwed - since he was the only one who seemed to know anything about this place. No, she needed to be optimistic about it. Tommy was already terrified enough for all of them. They didn't need to all be in that boat together.

It didn't take long for them to get back to the train station, where they found a giant hole that hadn't been there before.

"Oh great, I hope they didn't wreck the station!" JP said, "Otherwise, it doesn't matter if we're stuck here for thirty years. The train will never be able to arrive!"

As soon as he said that, a pillar of fire erupted from within the hole and threw Cerberumon out of it. The dog digimon crashed on to the tracks, struggling to get back onto his feet, "No! THE GUARDIAN SPIRIT!"

"Oh come on! It was right back where we started?" JP pointed out.

"Talk about a coincidence," Zoe added quietly.

"Coincidence, or destiny?" Bokomon mused. As he said that, they saw a figure climb out of the pillar of fire. A tall figure with long, flowing, and wild hair silhouetted against the flame. The flames died down and they could make out crimson red armor with a white trim and horns over the helmet. It was worn by a humanoid figure with long flowing blonde hair which it brushed out of its hair, "Whoa…Blonde now. Huh. I don't think I care for it."

"Hey, did that voice sound familiar?" Zoe asked.

"It sounded like...Takuya?" Tomoki blinked.

It sort of did now that Zoe dwelled on it. But how could that be Takuya? They looked nothing alike.

"That's a digimon! It must be the Guardian Spirit!" Bokomon said excitedly, opening up his book and parsing the pages once again in search of more information that was undoubtedly useless for them, "Let's see. Fire. Red armor. Long hair. Big. Hm-hm…hm-hm…Ah! Found it!"

He turned the book over to face them and showed a crude drawing of the digimon standing before them, "I was right! It is The Guardian Spirit of Fire! Agunimon! But the spirit is powerless without someone to channel its power. If that is Agunimon, then it's power must be wielded by that friend of yours."

"You do know that we just met each other today, right?" JP pointed out to Bokomon only to get ignored.

"NO!" Cerberumon roared in anger, "That power was to be mine! EMERALD BLAZE!"

The giant dog spewed out green flames at Agunimon who calmly leapt out of the way towards them. He waved, "Oh, hey guys. You know the train isn't supposed to come back for another thirty years, right?"

"We came looking to help!" Zoe pointed out in surprise. Agunimon just blinked in surprise, staring at her until she grew more annoyed, "What!?"

"Sorry…just not used to that. Most of the people I meet are usually just trying to kill me," Agunimon said sheepishly, "So…that's a nice change in pace."

That would've been meaningful if Takuya didn't keep saying that his head was so fuzzy or that he was confused. So either he was making all of that up, or parts of his brain were working better than others.

"By the way, did you get shorter?" Agunimon asked.

"No! You got taller!" Zoe pointed out to him. The digimon blinked again and looked at him, "Did I?" Huh…weird. Oh wait, is that what it meant by taking my power? So I'm a digimon, now? I always wondered what it would be like to get all those cool abilities."

Cool abilities? Was he referring to spitting out fire like Cerberumon had? Was that something they were going to get to do once they got their powers? The idea would've sounded cool if they hadn't been roped into this against their will. Speaking of which, the fires burned down and Cerberumon emerged from them to face them, "That power isn't meant for you! Give it back!"

"Be right back," Agunimon turned and charged for the giant dog. The two grappled with each other for a moment, shaking the ground beneath them as they struggled against each other. Despite his larger size, Cerberumon claws weren't enough to keep up with the fact that Agunimon had hands. Hands he used to eventually throw the wolf over his shoulders and suplex him back onto the ground. Cerberumon howled in pain as Agunimon pushed him away and moved to put distance between them.

But it wasn't long until Cerberumon was back of all fours and staring Agunimon down, "Grr. What are you? Who are you?"

"Y'know, I've been thinking on that question since I woke up. Who am I? Honestly, I couldn't remember anything. But it's been slowly coming back to me. I'm the guy that digimon like you fear! The guy who helps people when they're in trouble! My name…my real name is The Digimon Tamer!" Agunimon said triumphantly. At least, that's what Zoe thought he was going for. To be honest, that name was completely meaningless to her and sounded a little hokey.

"Never heard of you!" Cerberumon growled.

Agunimon blinked, "Okay…today is just a day for firsts."

"Don't worry. It'll be your last! Now die!" Cerberumon growled before charging forward again.

Agunimon took a step back and braced himself for the impact. As he did, his wrists came alight with flames that grew and spread their way across his body. Excitedly, the digimon cheered, "I've always wanted to try this! PYRO PUNCH!"

He threw his fist forward and a spiral of flame erupted from his palm, erupting forward and engulfing Cerberumon. The Digimon howled as the flames swallowed him, leaving only his silhouette visible. And even that eventually disappeared as the flames burned so hot that Zoe eventually had to turn away.

Once the flames cleared and the heat died down, Zoe looked back to see a small cloud of glowing light where Cerberumon had been before.

"What happened?" Tomoki asked.

"Agunimon destroyed Cerberumon. When digimon die, all that remains is the leftover data," Bokomon said, pointing at the cloud, "Now the data, the fractal code if you will, can be either allowed to reformat so that Cerberumon can be reborn! Or it can be absorbed by Agunimon to empower him so that he may become stronger than who he was before!"

"Sounds good to me," Agunimon said, reaching out his hand towards the data. At that exact moment, the glowing cloud of light flew away from Agunimon - upwards and away to some distant figure standing atop a nearby building. Another tall, humanoid figure wearing glistening pink armor. The light wrapped around the pink figure, dancing around its body until they started to glow. And as abruptly as they appeared, the figure turned and left.

"Hey! That was mine!" Agunimon protested.

"Who was that?" JP asked, "Where did they come from?"

"No idea," Bokomon said, "But whoever they were, they must've been incredibly powerful to be able to absorb the data from so far away."

So much had happened so quickly that Zoe's head was spinning and she could barely keep her thoughts straight. For now, she should concentrate on what was in front of her right now. Agunimon or Takuya had just said his real name.

The Digimon Tamer.

That name still sounded so stupid. And he'd used the power of the Guardian Spirit to defeat Cerberumon. She wanted to be happy about that but all it meant was that they were now involved in whatever prophecy thing was in that book Bokomon was talking about. After all, if Cerberumon was after it, there was no doubt in her mind that others were after it. Not to mention all the other kids who got on trains too.

She hoped they were okay, wherever they were.

Agunimon's body flash with bright light and he shrank down to size, turning back into Takuya again. The boy was standing there, examining himself, "Aw, I liked being tall. I'm not sure about the hair though. I don't think blonde is really my color."

"That was…pretty cool," Zoe said to him, "So…The Digimon Tamer…that's kind of a long name. Do you mind if I call you Tamer?"

Takuya turned his head to face her and offered a smile, "Sure…now then…how do we get you guys home?"

"So…are we not going to talk about what just happened?" JP asked, "The pink thing or Tamer getting the spirit of fire or whatever?"

"I thought you just wanted to go home?" Tamer remarked with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean, I do! But isn't using that Guardian spirit thing going to cause us problems?" JP asked, "If Cerberumon was after that, doesn't mean others are as well? What if someone else shows up?"

"Well we wouldn't want trying to get back to your world to be too easy," Tamer remarked, "Oh, speaking of, I just thought of how to get you guys back to your world."

"Really? When? How?" Tommy asked excitedly. Tamer gestured into the distance, "The Hallowed Bastion!"

"The Hallowed Bastion!?" Bokomon gawked, "You know where that is?"

"Of course! I haven't been there in a while but it would be nice to pay it a visit," he remarked.

"To be in a place of such knowledge," Bokomon clasped his paws together, "I must come with you! Please, may I?"

"Hang on. What's the Hallowed Bastion?" Tomoki asked.

"It's a center of knowledge and wisdom!" Bokomon said dreamingly.

"The Hallowed Bastion isn't a library," Tamer said.

"But there's a way there for us to get home?" JP asked.

"Yeah. But it's kind of a walk," Tamer said, "It'll take us a few days. We'll probably want some supplies."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get ready and get going!" JP said.

Zoe had to admit, she was a little excited to know there was a way home. And she didn't want to have to wait a second longer.

* * *

In another part of this new Digital World, the pink armored warrior called Crusadermon continued through the desert until it was a good distance away from the town. It looked back once out of concern - both for the arrival of the humans and for their discovery of the Guardian Spirit of Fire. That was exactly what was supposed to happen. Which was the problem. It was what was supposed to happen but not what they wanted to happen. And that gave the pink clad warrior pause because for the first time in its long bitter crusade, it had doubts about their goals.

"Crusadermon. You seem troubled."

The pink armored digimon turned around to see another digimon clad in white armor, a helm with pointed horns, and draconic wings growing from its back.

"Dynasmon," Crusadermon acknowledged the new digimon.

"What's on your mind?" it asked.

"The humans have the Guardian Spirit of Fire," Crusadermon answered.

"Is that not as our master foresaw?" Dynasmon asked.

"I thought it was what we were trying to avoid. Their arrival and their acquisition of the spirit is the first portent of our doom," Crusadermon pointed out.

Dynasmon grunted and crossed his arms, "I see what bothers you. Worry not. They need to be allowed into a false sense of security."

"I'd feel more comfortable about this if we weren't the ones at risk," Crusadermon answered.

Dynasmon raised his arms up in praise, "Do no worry for the actions of a few humans, my friend. Rather, sing praise and glory to our Lord and Master. Rejoice in his good news for our salvation is at hand!"

"You really need to stop talking like that," Crusadermon groaned, familiar with her partner's habit of becoming dramatic. But perhaps he was right. Better to have faith than worry about the details.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's next for team now that Takuya has revealed himself as the Digimon Tamer? Will they make it to the Hallowed Bastion? And what plans do Crusadermon and Dynasmon have in store? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v 3.0 - Bold New Frontier due out in three weeks on Friday March 19th at 8 PM CDT. Let me know what you guys thought in the comments! And hey, don't forget to bookmark the story to keep up with updates and to kudo to show support! That's all I have for now, let's look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> "Well, we're stuck here together. Might as well get to know each other. So...what's everyone's story?" Tamer asked again.
> 
> "Why don't you go first? Since you're so eager to do this," she said.
> 
> "Yeah okay. So...my name is The Digimon Tamer, you know that part," he began, "I'm...several hundred thousand years old. I'm an Ancient. And until...a couple hours ago, I was trying to stop a runaway train. That parts still fuzzy. I vaguely remember a fox, a robot rabbit dog thing, and a spider. My favorite color was blue back then but I'm kinda rocking this red."
> 
> "Y'know, there's no point in us playing this game if you can just make stuff up," Zoe grumbled.

**Author's Note:**

> How will Zoe and the others get out of this one? Will Takuya tell them his real name or will he get them into deeper trouble? And what does Cerberumon want with the Spirit? Find out all this and more with the next chapter of The Tamer v3.0 - Bold New Frontier due out in three weeks on March 5th, 2021 at 8 PM CST. If you guys loved it, don't forget to follow and favorite to show support. And hey, leave a review to share your thoughts and provide feedback. I always love reading what you guys think and I will try to be more proactive in my responses. Things got a little busy towards the end of v2.0 so I apologize for not responding as much and I give my word I will try to do better this time around. That's all for now! Let's look at previews for the next chapter:
> 
> "It's nice to meet you. What are you doing here?" Bokomon asked.
> 
> "More importantly, do you think my finger smells weird?" Neemon asked, plucking his finger out of his belly button. Zoe stuck her tongue out in disgust, "Gross."
> 
> "Stop that, Neemon. You'll scare them!" Bokomon slapped the rabbit's hand away.
> 
> Neemon's tilted his head to the side, "Because I'm the one scaring them right now."


End file.
